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I just did not want to climb up that 15 ft ladder and hang the yarnbombed sign from the awning . We had driven over to The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art to put up a lot of knitting they had commissioned to go with their “Color ” show. I also had brought a big street art piece that was a real yarnbomb – which is to say questionably legal sort of legal.

Maybe I could get Christine the intern to climb up and hang the sign .

“Can you climb up the ladder and hang the sign ? ” I asked sweetly .

“I’m too short ” she answered.

I went trailing after Margie , the educational director. ” I think someone who works for the museum should climb up the ladder ” I whined ” You know , for liability ”

“Well – I have an appointment , so I can’t ” Margie said. Oh drats.

” But ” she said changing the subject ” You know we have all these high school students here – would you be willing to talk to them about yarnbombing ? ”

This sounded good to me , so we all piled into the little library . The students seemed unusually awake. I decided rather than tell them about yarnbombing – I would teach them to be yarnbombers . So gave them the steps-

Look all around at the city , find a pole or a rack , measure it carefully , knit or crochet a tag [or get someone you know to knit or crochet a tag } Sew it onto the pole very tightly , take a picture , post it on Facebook .

Change the city.

They all seemed pretty open to this idea . I pictured mobs of high school students beautifying. I went outside and yarnbombed the cafe table.

The students rode away on their bikes . I went back into the workroom to sew my yarnbomb over the vinyl museum sign . I rolled around my worries – would the yarnbomb fit over the sign ? Would the sign stay up or would it fall on someones head ? Would the police bother me ? Why couldn’t I ever find my scissors ?

Hah ! The big magnets on the sign had grabbed them . In came Emily from the Sonoma Index to interview me. I really really like to talk about yarnbombing. I was hoping she would write something thoughtful and not just make lots of yarn puns . Emily was very smart and I learned a lot about the trials of the journalist in this internet age .

I finished sewing up my cover and Emily called Robbie to come take picture . We all trooped out to the street to watch me sew up the uncommissioned graffiti yarnbomb I had knit for the big street light . Robbie showed up and took pictures and talked to me about Picasso as I sewed my huge swath of knitting . I’ve been watching a lot a of art documentaries streaming on Netflix to get me through all day knitting binges . When the pole was all sewn up we dragged the cursed ladder over and I slid this long yarnbomb up 15 ft . That was fun. I had never been able to get a yarnbombup that high before. Ah , knitting looks so good when it’s enormous.

The director arrived . Oh good. ” Would you like to go up the ladder and hang the yarnbombing sign ? ” I asked politely

” Oh no ” the director said ” I think you should do it ”

So I climbed up with my sign and stuck it to the green metal awning with the big magnets .

” How does it look ?’ I asked Christine the intern .

” It needs to be over more ” she said . Oh dear .

I took hold of the sign and pulled down really hard The magnets releases suddenly . I swayed back . My knee slipped. ” How about this ? ‘ I said bravely and stuck it the sign up again .

” No ”

A few more pops and swings we got the sign placed. Very sweaty.

Margie returned.

” Can I help sew up the door handles ? ” She asked . Great yes wonderful .

Margie sewed , I sewed , I tore out the knitting , I reknit the knitting, we got the little handles all covered with knitting. Small children admired them.

The real world is very tiring. The museum looked changed and friendly covered with knitting . I hear that the knitting has stayed up for a week now. I hope it helps everyone stay more relaxed.

One Response to “Yarnbombing And Commissions Part 2 : The Sonoma Valley Museum Of Art”

I love it when I see knitted goodness brightening up the city, and in the cities I have lived in, I do see it from time to time. But I had not heard the term “yarn bombing” before discovering your blog just now. So, now I know! You sure have got some awesome yarn bombing goin’ on…!

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